The Summer Transfer Thread 2022.

[Aztec Hammer]

It's true that Rice still has a lot to learn as a box to box midfielder. Like Lanzini, he seems reluctant to pull the trigger - instead opting to play it safe and leaving it to the likes of Fornals, Benrahma, or Cresswell to provide service to our attackers. And then of course they get all the stick for giving the ball away whilst Dec and Lanzini walk off with their 90% pass success rates. As DL said, as a DM, it's almost impossible to find fault... but if he genuinely wants to progress and develop into more of a Gerrard type then he needs to learn to take more risks and provide a bit of creativity on top of his usual game.

It’s difficult to do that with confidence when you know you’ve got a ramshackle defence behind you and a central midfield partner whose true defensive capabilities are greatly exaggerated because he has great heading stats.

[jastons]

I prefer the alternative version where we keep our best player and Kretinski spends £150m to improve the team.

[HoustonHammer24]

We do, but perhaps from here we could actually plan for and develop a balanced squad, that would be a nice change, you know the way successful clubs tend to do it….are you reading this Mr Sullivan ?

Completely agree, and I think Moyes is on the right track in that regard. I’m hoping Newman is helping and that Sully is taking a back seat on transfers.

It’s going to take multiple windows to get the squad to the level it needs to be. I also think Moyes is going to lean towards domestic players after being burned with Vlasic and Kral.

3-4 decent squad players and 3-4 top class first XI players would be a great start to what is a massive undertaking in revitalizing an aging squad.

[bubbles1966]

Selling our better players to buy doesn't seem the right way to go at the moment TBH. We simply don't have anywhere near enough peak age, fit and undoubtedly capable players to be able to move them on unless we receive a preposterous bid.

By preposterous, I mean the sort of stupidity and desperation laden nonsense that throws £35m at Alex Iwobi, £50m at Ben White or Aaron Wan-Bissaka or £80m at Maguire.

We have, by my reckoning, a dozen players who are right, and we could perm one each from the older keepers and centre backs to pump the numbers up to 14.

The only 'peak age' sales we should actively entertain at fair prices are Masuaku (not the same post injury) and Vlasic (offered no tangible reason to retain and it's one position we're stocked with the right ages).

If we're lucky, we'd get £25m for the two.

Diop survives the cut because he has age on his side.

[Morocco Mole]

I don’t really care how many players we sign I just want each of them to be first team challengers, not just understudies/squad fillers.

Christian Eriksen would be transformational. Brentford are the lowest payers in the league. I’d start there and ask for Rico Henry while I’m at it.

The majority of the money needs to go on defense.

[jastons]

Eriksen bossed the game at their place.

[bubbles1966]

The likelihood of Johnstone increases....

[Gsbgsb]

First thing we need to do is get Lingard back.

He would be the single biggest impact maker on our attack. Watching some highlights of our play last season with him, we were so much more dynamic and even Benrahma dovetailed with him really well at times.

Bowen, Lingard, Rice, Antonio, Benrahma, Fornals, KLP even. We’d start to threaten teams with pace again. We missed that this year.
……..

Pace is crucial for me as is Lingard.

If we were to get Lingard it would be like an extra signing. Would still hope for someone like KLP to come in and, if Forrest do not come up, get as well Johnson both as projects. Johnson seems to have played as much through the middle as wide when I have watched Forrest recently. All have genuine pace and albeit none of the 3 have the striker tag with Antonio and Bowen it would be good options.

I see no reason we should not have a budget of around £120m given league placing, Euro run etc.If those 3 cost (with signing fees) say circa £50m and Areola another £10m it would leave £60m to spend on a LB, LCB and CM.

If we do not get Lingard however we would need to spend bigger on the “striker” (influencing the budget elsewhere) and likely to be only able to afford one of the younger players and even then we might not want to gamble so might look more to someone such as Cornet.

I know people want all business done early but it is a bit of a domino effect, doing the first deal influences what you can do on the second etc etc.

[HoustonHammer24]

I think any early signings will be the “no-brainers” like Lingard and Areola, as well as the squad players like Dennis, Brownhill and possibly Lewis-Potter.

Moyes knows how big of a summer this is, and will likely take his time on the big first XI upgrades at LB, CB, ST and possibly another CM.

[il_martello_di_genovesi]

I don’t really care how many players we sign I just want each of them to be first team challengers, not just understudies/squad fillers.

Christian Eriksen would be transformational. Brentford are the lowest payers in the league. I’d start there and ask for Rico Henry while I’m at it.

The majority of the money needs to go on defense.

Agree completely. It’s not just a small squad that hindered us per se, it’s the fact the squad was made even smaller by players who weren’t good enough or Moyes didn’t want to play. As I said earlier, we had 4 CM, but effectively 2. Having 3 that Moyes would want to use is better than having the 4 we had this season.

Eriksen would be great and we were actually linked previously. However, available on a free, Spurs coming 4th FFS, I think he goes back there. Wouldn’t even surprise me if Man Utd considered it.

[Morocco Mole]

Some people I know seem to think Lingard is happening...

Was agreed in January (according to some people I know)

[DannyboyDJL]

On the Soucek contract, I think we need to figure out if he's exhausted or has he been figured out? He was a massive unknown quantity when we signed him, but that first season really put him on the map.

[Gsbgsb]

Let's ask a slightly different question regarding Rice. Sell him now for £150M or see out his contract and he goes for nothing?

Neither.

I doubt anyone will offer enough (£150m or otherwise) to entice us now equally we cannot allow him to go for nothing. Fans might love it of course but no business could turn down a fee next summer that it likely to be close to twice your annual profit.

We cannot lose Rice and have zero to fill the hole or improve the team. That would be madness.

[Danny's Dyer Acting]

The frankly ridiculous 'dithering Dave' moniker is only used by a few people on this website and Twitter.

It's hardly what 'he's called', strangely, every non-West Ham fan I've spoken to in the last two years only mention what a fantastic job he's done. Not a bad word to say.

It's a narrative pushed by impatient fools on social media and Sullivans mouthpiece over at C&H.

File it under "utter nonsense" alongside "Lingard has a bad attitude" and "Rice would sign a new deal if he was happy" and move on.

[HammerAl]

We could sell Rice for £150m and bring in 4-5 players, but selling clubs will bump their prices up knowing how much cash we’ve got rattling around and then there’s no guarantee that any of those players come in and are a success. It’s a huge risk for us, with (still) no real scouting network, and a history of our beloved chairman messing around with transfers, to sell our best and only genuine world class player, to upgrade various positions.

I know it’s all hypothetical, and the likelihood is he will be sold at some point in the future, but I can’t bring myself to be actively FOR selling him right now, at that price. He is such a big part of this club and the team spirit, that you wouldn’t just be losing him on the pitch but off it too.

[Danny's Dyer Acting]

Let's ask a slightly different question regarding Rice. Sell him now for £150M or see out his contract and he goes for nothing?

If it has to be one of the two then I genuinely think there's a stronger argument for the 2nd option than people would first assume.

Rice isn't the sole reason for our performances but I think the impact he would have from 2019 through to the end of his deal is worth more than a transfer fee when you look at the money earned through better performance on the pitch and what he does for recruiting other players. I'd love to see the club come to a deal with him that sees us ride this wave and then part ways amicably at the end of his contract. Reckon we could achieve something really special by our standards (even more special than a European semi and our best back to back league finishes in history).

[I am Legend]

History has shown that selling your best player doesn't mean the team becomes weaker.
individual, isn't.

True, not always. But most of the following have sold their best players a few times. I know I'm probably missing some obvious ones but that's off top of head.

West Ham: Payet, Arnautovic
Leicester: Kante, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Chilwell
Wolves: Jota, Doherty,
Villa: Grealish
Everton: Stones, Lukaku, Barkley, Gueye
Southampton Van Dijk, Lovren, Bale, Mane, Tadic, Hojbjerg, Shaw
Spurs: Bale, Walker
Newcastle: Wijnaldum
Watford: Ighalo, Richarlison, Doucoure
Bourmouth: Ake
Hull: Robertson, Maguire, Bowen,
Swansea: Sigurdsson
Stoke: Arnautovic, Shaqiri
Norwich: Maddison, Buendia

That's just a few over the last decade. Most clubs who sell their best player do not improve, often they regress. The clubs that sell best players and improve are the ones with the best scouting networks. Like Sevilla, Red Bull teams and maybe Leicester now days, if not for injury issues they'd might improve more often after selling.

Personally, I think selling Rice or Bowen would set us back, we couldn't replace with anyone close to their standard. We'd regret it forever.

[I am Legend]

About the option to sell Rice or walk for free.

Ask yourself this. If this summer we were offered one of the best CM on the planet for 100m for 3 years, would you pull the trigger?

[Aztec Hammer]

I think, just as much as purely wanting to keep the genuinely World-class player in Declan Rice, it’s equally as important to me that we keep Declan Rice, the person.

I honestly don’t think it can be understated how valuable he is as a person and a symbol to this club.

Academy boy. From our youth team to a legitimate case for best central midfielder in the world. Goal scoring Captain of epic victories over Sevilla and Lyon. Mark Noble has just left the club.

Even putting aside the pure talent of the player, the meaning and the message in keeping this specific player at West Ham United is pivotal for me and goes far beyond even the way he drives past people on the pitch.

p.s. I don’t even want to think of the level of player we would be giving up the chance of consistently attracting to the club without Declan Rice as our captain.

[Sticky]

I haven't been on all day - who we signed and who we let go?

If zilch, sack DM..